Issues in School Violence Research

Explore the most effective methods of studying school violence!

School violence and safety research will move forward and make unique scientific contributions only if it develops a core literature that critically examines its measurements, methods, and data analysis techniques. Issues in School Violence Research is the first book to expose the limitations of previous research, to critically examine methodological and measurement practices, and to provide guidelines to enhance future school violence research. Early literature focused on school violence as a social problem, not as an integrated area of legitimate scientific research. It is time to move beyond the social problem era of school violence to begin critically assessing its common research practices.

Until recently, there has been such a rush to gather information about school violence that the methods used have hardly been questioned. The editors of this book are some of the first to raise questions about how the field conducts its research, especially with regard to self-reports among students. Issues in School Violence Research addresses significant measurement and methodological issues in school violence research. The contributors have been conducting school research for more than 15 years. To enhance your understanding of the practices usedpast and proposednumerous tables are included.

In Issues in School Violence Research, you’ll find information about:

• school-level warning signs of safety problems
  
• weapon possession
  
• using office referral records in school violence research
  
• identification of bullies and victims
  
• data quality issues in student risk behavior surveys
  
• extreme response bias patterns for youth risk behavior surveys
  
• the structure of student perceptions of school safety
  
• and much more!

Issues in School Violence Research is an important resource for anyone, from professors to policymakers. It is also appropriate as a textbook for research methodology courses. It is only through objective analysis that school violence research can develop new insights. This book presents topics that should stimulate new and better inquiry into the climate within which school violence occurs.

Michael J. Furlong is Program Chair of the Counseling/Clinical/School Psychology Program and Professor in the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is also Director of the Center for School-Based Youth Development and Associate Editor of Psychology in the Schools and the California School Psychologist. A past president of the California Association of School Psychologists, his research interests focus on school violence and safety and social and emotional assessment.,
Gale M. Morrison is Professor in the Counseling/Clinical/School Psychology Program in the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Her research interests have included social/emotional adjustment of students at risk for learning and behavior problems, parent/professional relationships, and the role of support services to the education mission in the schools. Her focus is on the role of resilience models in explaining the behavioral trajectories of children in schools.,
Russell Skiba is Professor in the School Psychology Program at Indiana University. He received his doctorate from the University of Minnesota. He most recently directed the Safe and Responsive Schools Project, funded by a U.S. Department of Education Projects of National Significance grant. He worked with eleven schools in two states to develop comprehensive and preventive approaches to ensuring school safety. He has presented on school violence prevention for associations and school districts throughout the country and recently received the Operation PUSH/Rainbow Coalition Push for Excellence award for his research in minority disproportionality in school suspension.,
Dewey G. Cornell is a clinical psychologist and Professor of Education in the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia. Dr. Cornell is Director of the UVA Youth Violence Project and is a faculty associate of the Institute of Law, Psychiatry, and Public Policy. He